East Coast Wings Spreads Outside of NC

Read More About

Known for its 75 flavors of buffalo-style wings, East Coast Wings & Grill recently opened its first restaurant outside of the company’s North Carolina hub.

Located in Pleasanton, Texas, the new restaurant is the first of six slated for the western half of San Antonio.

It set a company record for opening-week sales, exceeding the systemwide average by nearly 30 percent.

“It’s always nerve-wracking breaking into a new market, as you never know how people are going to respond to your brand,” says Sam Ballas, CEO of East Coast Wings & Grill. “This is the first restaurant we developed outside of North Carolina, and we are extremely pleased to see so much positive feedback. This new location not only marks the first for San Antonio, but the first of many more to come across the nation.”

Ballas says East Coast Wings & Grill has more than 100 additional restaurants under development and expects to open nearly 15 locations by the end of 2013, including sites in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

The Pleasonton restaurant is owned and operated by brothers Nimesh and Dharmesh Patel.

Nimesh Patel, a practicing physician and entrepreneur with three urgent care centers in San Antonio, and Dharmesh Patel, a lifelong hospitality professional, have committed to opening a total of six locations in the San Antonio area.

Having grown up in New Orleans, the brothers were very critical of taste and, after exploring a variety of options, determined that East Coast Wings & Grill provided the business model and quality food that they were looking for.

“East Coast Wings & Grill operates their own corporate restaurants and focuses on the bottom line, just like we do,” Nimesh Patel says. “They eliminated our previously held concerns that the demands of many franchisors, at times, make no business or real world sense. We could not be more excited about our recent opening, and we are glad to be partnering with them to expand the concept outside of North Carolina.”